


Hot Visions and Replicators

by Tarlan



Series: Hold Your Breath [8]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Community: fanfic100, Episode Related, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-17
Updated: 2009-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-20 22:28:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack attempts to hold onto his secrets as the Replicator invades his mind. Tag to The Return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Visions and Replicators

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ **Fanfic100** prompt 41. Shapes.

Jack wasn't dumb but, for the most part, he was happy enough to play along with other people's misconceptions, loving that moment when he derailed their arrogance and condescension with a well placed word or turn of phrase that proved he'd understood a lot more than he'd let on; a hell of a lot more since having the encyclopedia of the Ancients in his head not once but twice.

Thor had stopped him turning into a vegetable both times, implying that the Asgard had taken all the data away but Jack knew better. He knew Thor had merely interrupted the pathways, leaving that data sitting inside his brain like a disconnected hard drive. Except, sometimes he would get a flash of knowledge or understanding, and although he couldn't speak it, he could read the rectangular lettering of Ancient fluently--but he kept that quiet in case someone decided to turn him into a laboratory experiment. Sitting behind a desk all day was bad enough without having electrodes slapped on his head and needles stuck into his veins too.

Daniel knew but said nothing except in private.

He brought his thoughts back into line, going back to the simplistic overview of the human brain as he gazed around the emptiness inside his head. The Replicator, Talos, stood before him looking bemused.

"Kind of roomy," Jack stated, having locked everything behind the image of a Stargate in his head. All that was left to hide was the key; the set of chevrons that would unlock the Stargate and open a wormhole to his inner thoughts. It was hard not to think of the shapes of the chevrons, hoping the Replicator would not see their shifting forms in the mist that was swirling in a circle just beyond him and Talos.

Desperately, he needed to concentrate on something else but, unfortunately, Atlantis always reminded him of a single person and he saw a face forming in the mist behind Talos. He saw the crooked smile, the bright eyes, and the flying hands that swirled the vortex of the wormhole, bringing back memories of them never stilling as they drew patterns over his skin. Fingers would dance through chest hairs turned salt and pepper with age, stroking over a nipple before smoothing down his sides. Those eyes would dance too; eager and playful, a genius at work on his body.

Talos smiled and for a moment Jack thought he had seen and understood, but reality crashed back in as the hand slid out of his forehead.

When he told Woolsey that it could get much worse, he hadn't meant to frighten the man but Woolsey wasn't a child. He deserved to know so he could be prepared for the scenario the Replicators would place inside his head to make him reveal the information they needed. Given time they would break Jack too and he could only guess at the horror they would inflict upon him once they discovered the face and form of his lover as well as those of his friends. His only hope was that Sheppard had a good plan for breaking him and Woolsey out of here before it came to that.

***

Jack watched as Rodney fumbled at the lock for the cell. He hadn't needed to guess at the ruse because it was all there in Rodney's eyes despite the show he was trying to put on for him and Woolsey. Jack had come to know Rodney too well, seeing the lies so clearly written across his face and knowing it put him in an awkward position of having to hold out longer if the Replicators decided to do the hand-into-forehead thing again. Sheppard knew it too, and Jack accepted his apology with as much grace as he could muster.

When the Replicators came for them, Jack gritted his teeth as hands held him firm by the shoulders. The hand slid into his head and he was back facing Talos in the emptiness surrounding the Stargate. The mist in his mind shrouded everything but the Stargate that barred the way to his innermost thoughts.

"Here we are again," Jack stated nonchalantly, taking a deep breath mentally and holding it. In this place, seconds could seem like minutes, minutes like hours. Time became relative as thoughts began to move at the speed of light, explaining why people claimed to see their whole lives flashing before them in the seconds before imminent death.

"Ah, the first key. Abydos." Talos smiled as the first chevron encoded.

Admittedly, it seemed a little unreal hearing the chevron encode while already bathed in the blue of the wormhole but that sort of logic had no place in this realm. Jack clamped down harder on his thoughts, sealing them behind the blue but more was leaking through. Knowing what the next question would be forced Jack to seek another distraction.

"Tell me what your companions are doing in the city."

The words slipped away without compromising Jack for he had locked his thoughts on one of those companions, partially giving Talos what he wanted without giving him anything at all. Instead, Jack focused on Rodney's mouth; on the quirk of lips, on the way the downward slant rose while mischief danced in his eyes. He recalled the hard press of those lips upon his own; their only contact in months reduced to a short embrace and kiss as they passed in an empty corridor, breaking apart when Rodney's radio called him back to the labs to finish packing up. Six weeks ago he had touched his lover for the first time in months, and he'd felt a little resentment towards Helia for giving them no time for more. Now guilt mingled with resentment for her arrogance had taken her to her death along with all of her crew.

The blue of the Stargate made it easier to think of Rodney, recalling the excitement in bright eyes as Rodney pretended to try to free them from the cell. He knew the pleasure had not been completely feigned; knew that pleasure was at seeing him alive and well, and Jack hadn't needed to feign his own anger and frustration at having Rodney so close and yet out of reach.

A shape swirled across his vision of Rodney, caressing his cheek and jaw.

"Dakara," Talos murmured, and the second chevron encoded.

More of his thoughts swirled in patterns within the wormhole, bleeding through as the next chevron encoded for Vis Urban. Jack focused on memories of Daniel, on the joy of finding him again after the Ancients kicked Daniel out of their Ascension plane for bending their rules of non-interference. Daniel was probably the only one who knew and understood Jack's relationship with Rodney, knew how the Ancient download into his mind had affected his thought processes, with his increased intelligence drawing him like a moth to Rodney's flame. Daniel was probably one of the few who knew he and Rodney shared the same passion for the stars, sitting for hours on Jack's balcony in Washington simply to stargaze until the beckoning warmth of Jack's shower and bed drew them back inside.

"Langara," Talos stated smugly. Home planet of Jonas Quinn but more memorable to Jack as the place where Daniel was fatally exposed to radiation as he saved the Langarans world.

Four keys down and three to go. The blue swirled with more memories seeping through but then Talos smiled, and all Jack felt was the pain of the Replicator's hand sliding back out of his forehead. Woolsey had given them what they wanted to know and it took Jack all his considerable acting skills to pretend displeasure rather than hug the man.

After that, the rest of Sheppard's plan went down smoothly, though even Jack was surprised when Talos disintegrated in front of them along with every Replicator in the city. He'd known the C4 was a ruse but hadn't quite seen the connection between the city shields and the Anti-Replicator weapon that he had originally built for Thor before the Asgard severed the connections to the Ancient database inside his head.

Again, it took all of his control not to sweep his pleased and excited lover into his arms and kiss him soundly.

Later, having agreed to let Elizabeth and her team remain on Atlantis, he sauntered to the quarters he'd lived in over these past weeks before the Replicators arrived. The door slid open easily, and Jack smiled when he saw his lover. Rodney had told everyone he was heading to bed and that he didn't want to be disturbed unless it was an imminent life or death situation. The quick glance in Jack's direction had been enough for Jack to suspect he would find Rodney waiting for him. What he hadn't expected was the small mountain of food placed on the desk, courtesy of the Daedalus, but then maybe he should have expected that as this was Rodney McKay after all.

They shared the main meal in eager anticipation of what would come later; fingers brushing occasionally. Rodney talked and talked, as always, barely stopping to draw breath as he alternated between excitement at being back and abject apology for forcing Jack into that freezing cold water; far too caught up to remember his manners about not talking with his mouth full.

It reminded Jack of the first time he truly noticed Rodney McKay, back in the Ancient Outpost in Antarctica. This time there was no Daniel to kick him in the shin and stop him staring at the broad, orange-fleece clad shoulders and that mobile mouth.

Eventually, Rodney noticed Jack's hungry look and the flush across his cheeks was all Jack needed. They stripped quickly, almost frantically amid less than ardent groans about sore backs and bad knees, and how Rodney was going to discover exactly how long Jack could hold his breath.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Rodney started to pull away as Jack reached for his lover. "You forgot dessert."

"No. No, I didn't."

It wasn't coffee cake smeared over his lover this time, but it still tasted delicious.

END


End file.
